


A prayer for you

by m_findlow



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 15:08:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15799047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m_findlow/pseuds/m_findlow
Summary: Nightmares will keep even the strongest awake at night.





	A prayer for you

Jack had mixed feelings about Ianto Jones. Then man had come into Torchwood under false pretenses, lured them into a false sense of security, and then nearly destroyed the hub and risked the entire planet by smuggling a Cyberman into Torchwood and handing them the tools they needed to create a brand new army.

They’d come to rely on him, trust him, like him, maybe even love him, and now he’d gone and done this.

Jack knew that part of him was furious. Furious at himself as much as anything.

Ianto had done what he’d done out of a misguided sense of duty. Hell, Jack thought, he’d done it out of love. Who could begrudge him that? Jack had done far worse things over the years, and for far less noble motives.

And despite knowing that the team now distrusted him, maybe even hated him, he still came in and wore that same mask he’d worn before - the one that hid all the emotion behind the placid façade of compliance and helpfulness.

What horrors must have been going through his head as he relived every moment of that fateful day when the Daleks and the Cybermen had overrun Canary Wharf and turned his lover into that disfigured and emotionless monster? What nightmares must still go through his head now, knowing that like him, her appearance had been a lie, a masterful way of gaining a foothold and getting what she needed? Ianto had used Jack to his own ends, but so too had Lisa used Ianto to her own ends. What guilt must he feel at the constant deception he had lead them all to, and the potential catastrophe that he had brought down on all their heads?

Jack struggled to sleep at night, remembering only the barest percentage of the horrible things that had happened to him, and that he had done in his long life. What things must keep Ianto awake at night?

They’d let him down. They should have been there for him, should’ve asked more questions, worried more about his needs than what he was doing to service their own.

Even now Jack imagined the young man, desperately alone, and wondered what could possibly be encouraging him to keep going. In his head, he sent out a silent message into the darkness, and hoped that somehow Ianto would hear it and understand.

I lie awake and pray that you'll be strong tomorrow, Ianto Jones. If you cannot find the strength to go on with all that you have suffered, and all that you might still achieve, then what hope is there for any of us?


End file.
